Stephanie Winters
Winters- Reading Responses

I really like the article about the teacher who teaches at-risk students. I feel like he is really trying to improve the lives of his students and doing the best he could to help them graduate. It's interesting to look at how he connects kick-boxing to his job. He says, "My battle is everyday". Here he is saying that his job as a teacher to these students is an everyday battle for him. A battle that he wants to win. He talks about the condition of the school where he teaches. It takes a strong person to deal with these conditions. Some people may give up on their students when they are faced with a situation like this. However, Joseph Laycock continues to try to educated these young students. He takes the motivation and fight from martial arts and transforms it into a fight for his students.This article is inspiring and shows that there are teachers who really care about their job and especially for their students.

Michael Oatman is an African American who transformed his life. His story is very inspiring and is important to the underclass black population. It shows them that it is possible to get out of the streets and get a college education. This is something that everyone should be aware of. It you put your mind to something and work hard you can achieve it. When people start the explore things that are different than the normal, they realize that they can use these things to their advantage. Oatman stumbled upon this type of situation. Something he wrote got noticed which sparked his interest in different things pertaining to education. He then used his education and knowledge to give himself a better life. He no longer takes part in the activities that he used to that were dangerous. He has come across new ideas and concepts in his education that have helped him throughout his life.

The article about the author's grandmother asks many questions that make you think. The article question how we look at being educated and gives evidence that may change the minds of some people. Many people believe that being educated means having a degree and working at a good job. These are the things that come to the minds of people when they are asked this question. However, this author tells a story about her grandmother. The author's grandmother received no type of formal education but can speak in five different languages and had many experiences that are unique. Someone who though that having a degree defines what it means to be educated would have to consider this woman to be uneducated. However, a person who believes that being educated means having a wide variety of knowledge would say that this woman is extremely educated. This article shows us again that there is no strict definition of being educated. It can be interpreted in many different ways and applied to many different situations. I thought that this was a neat article to read and something that made me think more about the idea about being educated.